The Serpent and the Cross

The Serpent and the Cross
by Mark Simmons

In 1976, Tom Faulkner is in Fowey, the small Cornish south coast port, to attend the funeral of Jack, his father, and put his affairs in order. Soon, it becomes apparent his father may not have met a natural end which leads Tom on an odyssey to Italy and into his father's wartime past.

In Italy, Tom meets Carlo Miller, an elderly priest and friend of Jack, here the story moves to 1933 when Jack takes part in the famed Italian road race the Mille Miglia with the MG team, and first meets the aristocratic Landucci family at their home the Villa Valetta, on the shores of Lake Garda. Jack is back in Italy during World War ll and is sent into the Mussolini Salo Republic on an SOE Mission.

He yearns to rekindle his passion for Nicole Landucci, the beautiful ardent fascist aristocrat he cannot forget.